Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

RATING: C+

How big of a hit was the Harry Potter series? So big that it only took four years after the book's release in the UK (three in the US) for them to put a movie out. That's pretty popular. Thankfully, they didn't make a low-budget adaption either like some adaptions get these days. They really wanted to actually do the book justice. And... well, they tried. Difficult to deny that.

One of the biggest complaints about any book-to-movie adaption you will see now is how different the movie is from the book. Sometimes adaptions are judged unfairly for this, while some admittedly do go some crazy routes with the source material. But this adaption is about as faithful as you'd expect, more or less. Some things are tweaked, of course, but they stick pretty close to the book. Often quoting word-for-word. 

All in all, the cinematic introduction to the Wizarding world from 2001 is pretty impressive at times, and yet also underwhelming at times. There are some things that are done very well and cleverly--such as the decision to not make the viewer find out about Harry's past until he did, which helps bring a sense of mystery for non-book readers--and the final confrontation as well is done justice. But some other things just aren't handled well; for example, the circumstances that lead to the detention in the Forbidden Forest make less sense. And Quidditch is depicted quite inaccurately and a tad ridiculously (one of my biggest complaints about the entire film series, for that matter). 

Probably my biggest complaint about the film, though, is many of the child actors. Despite the efforts from great actors who help elevate the film (Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, Robbie Coltrane, Warwick Davis, John Hurt, John Cleese), most of the child actors just didn't do that well in their first outing, even if they grew to be good or great in later films. Daniel Radcliffe (Harry) and Tom Felton (Draco), for example, aren't nearly as good in this film as they are in later ones. Emma Watson does well, but she's arguably the only one amongst the child actors who does. 

And that's not to mention other things that help elevate the film, such as the action sequences or visuals or John Williams's score, as well as other things that bring it down, such as Richard Harris's more frail performance as Dumbledore and the often awkward transitions/cuts (in some cases, probably due to where a scene was cut). 

As you can see, there's a fair amount to like about this film, namely many of the adult actors and the special effects. But there's also a fair amount that really brings the film down--namely the child actors. The Harry Potter film series got much better later on, so it could be said they were just working out the kinks. You'll still have to deal with this first installment, though--the good and the bad.